2-Day Masai Mara Escape
A weekend-length dash to the Mara for guests short on time: one afternoon and one full morning of game drives either side of a single night in camp.
6-Day Mara, Nakuru & Amboseli
Overview
This itinerary covers three very different landscapes in six days, so I build it around one flight rather than trying to drive the whole loop. The first half is a familiar Rift Valley opening: Lake Nakuru for rhino and lake-shore game, then two full days in the Mara. There is no practical direct road between the Mara and Amboseli, so on the morning we leave the Mara we take a light aircraft back to Wilson Airport and straight on to Amboseli's own airstrip, landing in time for an afternoon game drive under Kilimanjaro the same day.
Amboseli closes the trip at the foot of the mountain, with its swamps drawing elephant out into the open in family herds, a different kind of game viewing from the cat-focused days in the Mara.
Day by day
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01
Nairobi to Lake Nakuru
We leave Nairobi in the morning and climb over the Rift Valley escarpment to Lake Nakuru, arriving in time for an afternoon game drive around the lake shore and woodland, looking for black and white rhino, buffalo and flamingo.
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02
Nakuru to the Mara
A short morning drive to finish at Nakuru, then we head southwest through Narok to the Masai Mara, arriving by mid-afternoon and going straight into a game drive on arrival.
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03
Full day in the Mara
A complete day inside the reserve: an early drive, a rest at camp through the heat, and an afternoon session running until last light, with the route depending on where cats and plains game have been concentrating.
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04
Mara to Amboseli by air
An early game drive before breakfast, then we transfer to the nearest airstrip for a light-aircraft flight back to Wilson Airport and straight on to Amboseli, landing in the early afternoon. We check into camp and go straight out for a first game drive; the clearest view of the mountain itself will come the next morning, before cloud builds around the peak.
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05
Full day in Amboseli
A day built around the swamps that draw elephant herds out into open ground to drink and graze, often for hours at a stretch. We work the swamp edges in the morning and again in the late afternoon, when the light is best for the classic view of elephant crossing the plain with the mountain behind them.
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06
Morning drive and return to Nairobi
A final early game drive, then breakfast and the drive back to Nairobi, roughly four hours via Namanga or Emali, arriving in time for an onward flight.
What's included
Included
- Ground transport in a 4x4 safari vehicle with a pop-up roof for the Nakuru and Mara legs, and for Amboseli
- One light-aircraft flight from the Mara to Amboseli via Wilson Airport
- Five nights full-board accommodation: one at Nakuru, two in or bordering the Mara, two at Amboseli
- Eight game drives, led by an English-speaking driver-guide
- Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara and Amboseli park and reserve entry fees
- All meals throughout: breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Bottled water in the vehicle throughout
- Soft drinks, juices, tea and coffee throughout
- Beer, wine and spirits throughout
Not included
- International flights
- Kenya e-Visa or entry permit fees
- Tips and gratuities for your guide and camp staff
- Items of a personal nature such as laundry and souvenirs
- Travel insurance
Best time to visit
June through October and January through February give the driest conditions at Nakuru and in the Mara; the same months also bring the clearest early-morning Kilimanjaro views over Amboseli, before cloud builds around the peak later in the day. Late June through October also carries the best odds on the migration.
Common questions
Why is there a flight in this itinerary rather than driving throughout?
There is no reasonable direct road between the Mara and Amboseli, so linking the two by road would cost most of a day on rough tracks. The light-aircraft transfer takes under two hours in total including the stop at Wilson Airport, which is why we build it into this route rather than dropping one of the two parks.
Are park fees and the flight included?
Yes. The flight, and entry fees for all three parks on the days you visit them, are included. Only items outside the itinerary, such as your international flight into Kenya, are excluded.
Is luggage limited on the light-aircraft leg?
Yes, light aircraft operating into bush airstrips typically limit checked luggage to around 15 kg per person in a soft-sided bag, with no rigid suitcases. We flag this at booking so you can pack accordingly for this itinerary.
Will we definitely see the migration in the Mara section?
We can't promise a crossing on a given day, since the migration follows grazing and rainfall rather than a fixed schedule. What this itinerary does guarantee is two full days in the reserve, which gives a strong chance at resident lion, cheetah and the general plains game even outside migration season.
05Add-on experience
Hot air balloon safari
Over the Masai Mara
The Mara is where balloon safaris in Kenya started and it remains the classic flight: open plains, the river courses picked out by their tree lines, and game visible below in a way no vehicle can show you. Between roughly July and October, when the migration herds are in the reserve, the view from the basket takes in a scale of movement that is genuinely hard to grasp from the ground.
You are collected from camp in the dark and driven to the launch site, arriving while the crew are still inflating the envelope. Take-off is at first light, which is the whole point: the air is calmest then, and the low sun puts long shadows behind everything below you.
The flight runs roughly an hour, drifting with whatever wind there is rather than steering, so no two flights follow the same line. Height varies through the flight, from just above the treetops to a few hundred metres up.
Where the balloon lands, the ground crew are already setting up breakfast, cooked in the open and eaten at the landing site before you are driven back to camp. Most guests are back in time for the rest of the morning.
Worth knowing
- Flights go at dawn and are weather dependent. Wind or low cloud cancels them, and that call belongs to the pilot on the morning, not to us.
- Baskets are small and fill early in high season, so this is worth adding when you book the safari rather than deciding once you have arrived.
- It is a genuinely early start, normally a pre-dawn pickup from camp.
Who flies it
The flight itself is run by a licensed balloon operator with its own pilots and civil aviation approval, not by us. What we do is book your seats, make sure the pickup lines up with where you are staying and what your itinerary is doing the rest of that day, and sort it out with the operator if the weather moves your flight.
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